Remember the scene in The Hangover when Allen claims to be a “one man wolfpack”? Sales and entrepreneurship is not much different. Yes it can be lonely, but it does not have to be.

I love working with new or inexperienced sales and marketers. There is a twinkle in their eyes and a burning desire in their hearts. But when that fire starts to flicker and that twinkle dims a little, it can get lonely. I try to be that person with an open ear for these young professionals. Not because I think that I am just that good, but rather because I have empathy for them. More times than not, they just need someone to voice their frustrations to. I’ve been in sales and marketing for almost 20 years and have been an entrepreneur for nearly 6 years. I find it helpful to have someone I’d like mind to talk to when times get tough, and if you do this long enough, you will see tough times.

You know them well. It’s that company that offers the same products and services that you do. The athlete wearing the other team’s colors. Yourself.

Whoever you have identified as the competition, flip the script. Think of yourself as your competitor’s competition.

Are you the type of company, athlete, or person that the competitor looks at and says, “they’re easy they do ‘xyz’ we can overcome that”. Or are you the type of competitor that they do not mind losing to.

Over the years, I have had several competitors in business and in athletic arenas. A few stick out in my mind. You knew when you were up against them that you had to bring your “A-Game”. But the ones that truly stand out are just good people to their core. When you lose to them, you say, “I get it, people like them”. It reminds me of that scene in Firgetting Sarah Marshall when Jason Segal’s character is surfing and bumps into Aldos Snow, his ex-girlfriend’s current lover and says, “…you’re so cool. I can see why Sarah likes you”.

I long to be that competitor to my competition. I like when I run into a competitor and they have “heard of me”. I like when my competition is “job searching” on my behalf because they know the impact and the relationships I have and the ones that I foster. It means I’m doing something right. I’m competing without malice. Doing my job serving others. Not going down the path so commonly traveled by others which is to trash the competition.

My challenge to you is be that competitor that takes the high road. Be the competition that your competition wants to introduce themselves to. Be that competitor that others talk about in a positive light. Be that competitor that the competition does not mind losing to.

Self-awareness seems to be somewhat of a hot topic these days. Whether or not someone directly comes out and calls it self-awareness, I have heard it no less than a dozen times in the last two weeks.

To be honest, I never really thought much about it until recently. I know there are certain things that I am good at, people who I gravitate towards, and tasks that I enjoy more so than others. When you look at the big picture, identifying why I am good at these certain skills, or why I hang with the people who I do, and why I enjoy certain tasks really does come down to my personality type.

How does one become self-aware? The simple answer: pay attention to yourself. The difficult answer (which really isn’t that difficult) survey yourself. Make notes. Understand the “why.”

Years ago I worked for the drug manufacturer Pfizer. We participated in the DISCovering Yourself and Others personality inventory. I’m sure it is called something different, but you can Google DISC personality and find a number of resources. In fact, you can even take a free survey online that will give you a brief synopsis of your personality tendencies. The synopsis is shockingly identical to the results that I saw during my Pfizer days. I encourage you to do the same, but don’t focus on your perceived weaknesses revealed in the survey. Instead, focus on the positive and improve on that. Go with your instinct.

As for me and my self-awareness, I have and I guess will always be the type of person that likes to get things done and will typically do them myself. I like fast paced activities and high energy, positive people. It is no wonder then that my DISC profile is “DI,” and specifically I identify as a “persuader” and an “implementer.” Makes sense if you know anything about my personal and professional background.

Let me know what you DISCover about yourself.

Full Disclosure–There are many other personality inventories and they all say pretty much the same thing about you. I am in no way affiliated with DISC or any of its entities, and I’m sure that the others are great. I just happen to have experience with DISC.

I never really wanted to be in sales growing up. Now that I am an adult, I still really do not think of myself as a traditional “salesman”. Yet truthfully, we are all in sales, especially if you are a business owner. Hopefully this blog will be a resource for ... Continue reading →